I'm a senior in high school and an active participant in my school's curricular choir. it's really the only school related activity i actually get involved with. we do two concerts a year, and travel every year to compete in the heritage music festivals (san diego, boston, orlando, and this year virginia beach). if you take choir for all four years of high school, it's considered an honors class as a senior. it's the same course, but you have to do an "honors project" in order to achieve the .3 extra points on your GPA.

what's cool about the project is that it can be about literally ANYTHING music related. examples of past projects include: - a history of the beatles - interview with singer Jack Johnson - research project on music therapy

these projects are usually presented as either a movie or a powerpoint presentation, and i remember my favorite was a powerpoint on a jack johnson interview a senior was able to do while i was a sophomore. so i decided that i would attempt to get an interview with Kris, seeing as we talk a lot and he was willing to do me a favor. i figured i'd ask some questions about being in a band and breaking out into the industry - finding a label, touring, pros and cons, fans, etc. i did this because my school is FULL of musicians. bands, singers, etc, and i knew Kris would have some really great information, helpful to them.

kris liked the idea and i sent him 9 questions. i told him not to worry about writing me some crazy essay or anything, just to try to avoid single-sentence answers.

i sent him the questions at around 9:30pm, and got my reply around 4am the next day. the email was 5 pages long. this was all back in september. i did my presentation despite the fact that my choir class (period 3) ended up having less music-oriented kids and more kids just trying to have an easy class. to my surprise, i had football players and hollister whores coming up to me after class asking where i could find Dommin's music. they'd heard "Awake" and "Dark Holiday" playing in the background as questions and kris's answers were displayed on the screen.

so even though now a lot of the answers Kris gave me are now avaliable in other interviews, i thought i'd share what he sent me. it's really detailed and in depth and awesome. it's actually LESS about dommin, more about being a musician in general. enjoy!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. How old were you when you first got interested in music?

I guess my earliest memories of having an interest in music is being about 4 or 5 years old, laying on my parents' bed while my dad would do his push-ups and sit-ups while he'd be playing everything from Kool and The Gang, Earth Wind & Fire to AC/DC on his record player. I could lay there for hours and just listen. Then when my older brother introduced me to KISS, I think that's when I started getting an appreciation for not just music as a fan, but in the playing of the music and how it was all made. This all happened around 5 and 6 years old.

2. Did you take music classes in high school and/or college? If so, would you say they made a big impact on your talent and career?

I did not take any music classes in high school and I took one music appreciation class in college. While I can most certainly say it had absolutely no effect on my decision to be involved with music, I can also certainly say that I really wish I had become more involved with music in both high school and college. I am self-taught and learn everything by ear and all my music interests existed with the bands I played with outside of school. While it was a good tool to develop, I think I would be much more advanced and versatile than I am now if I had aligned my passion for music with my academic goals. It's a regret I have to this day.

3. There are a lot of bands out there who boast a dark, moody sound. What artists specifically inspire you? How did you go about finding your "sound"?

I think if a song-writer or musician is being open and honest about their passion, then most likely, how dark or light the music sounds, is really just a reflection of the creator's personality. This, in turn, also determines the kind of music he or she gravitates toward. I tend to be drawn to darker bands like Danzig, Type O Negative and Depeche Mode. I find that the mood expressed in that type of music to be the most effective in transmitting emotion. But I like all kinds of music. I can listen to the local classical station in Los Angeles all day. But music based in minor chords just has a great appeal to me. So, as far as my sound, I think it's merely a reflection of myself and who I am. Last week, I had an interviewer ask me, "how do you address such dark subject matter and bring it across in a light way?". I had no explanation other than, that's who I am. It's important for the creator of music to be honest and true to themselves and whatever comes out, it will be a unique reflection of the person and a cocktail of their influences.

4. How challenging was it to find people to form a band that were all musically on the same page?

It was very challenging. I have been in what I call an equal band, where it's equally collaborative and then you can have 5 leaders pulling things in 5 different directions. After dealing with that for 7 years, I somewhat formed the philosophy, if you want something done right, do it yourself. So rather than find people that I could collaborate with, I wanted to find people that could play decently, take direction, were hungry to be a part of something and most importantly, had the same temperament. So, I'm the little dictator in the band. But what is nice is that because of the distance that I have taken this thus far, I've earned the respect of my band-mates so that they trust my ear, my songwriting and my vision. So I don't think we are musically on the same page even today. In fact, I'm almost certain that not everyone in this band completely "gets it." But that's okay. They are along for the ride and we're all having fun for however long it will last.

5. Talk about the process of making a record and trying to find a label to sign you.

I think the process of making a record is different for everyone. If I don't write the song completely, I definitely fully arrange it. So the song is already complete in my head. Because of this, I demo everything at home first on my home computer recording program. I usually start with the basic beat/drums. I'll then add the bass line and then guitars. I'll do vocals and keyboards last. So when it comes time to record the album professionally, I'll already have the song laid out. I remove the drums so that the drummer can put in live drums and play along with the demo. Then, I proceed to simply remove whatever track from the demo and play it in (bass/guitars) sounding much better in the real studio.

Finding a label is a whole other battle. For over a decade, I've sent music to labels, managers, agents. I've joined various groups, listened at panels etc... Most of my attempts went ignored or at least not responded to. It wasn't until I met someone, my producer & manager, in a twist of fate, that things started moving forward. If you can find someone that believes in you to make calls, have meetings and speak on your behalf, it makes all the difference in the world. It means nothing if "I" tell you I'm good. It means everything thing if someone "ELSE" tells you. You can't be a witness to yourself. You need someone to witness for you.

6. What would you consider to be a musician's most helpful tool? What do you find is the biggest setback? (Tours with other bands, the internet, shows, promotion, free filesharing programs, word of mouth, iTunes, myspace, etc)

There are many helpful tools depending on what you want to do. The fact that music is now so digital that you can make master quality recordings from your home is huge. You don't need a full band or thousands of dollars for studio time. Then you have social networking sites to help build your presence with no geographical limits to your reach.

The biggest set-back I'd have to say is file sharing programs that make stealing music a convenient crime. While I can list many positive effects that illegal downloading has had on the music industry, I definitely feel the cons. So far, it's made gauging the success of a song very difficult because where as before, you could say you sold "x" number or songs or CDs, now there is no way of knowing. And if you don't know, then you don't know where your fans are or where to tour. Also the record company isn't making money, and if they aren't making money, then they will drop the band from the label. So what they have done now is introduce what are called 360 deals, meaning, they tap into every piece of revenue for a band. Whereas before, labels would only take money from record sales and the band could keep what was made from selling merch and from touring, now the label won't sign a band unless they get a large percentage of everything. So bands are getting suffocated of their rights. Now a huge band will still probably be ok, especially if they've already made enough money to have stability. But whereas before, a band could have modest success and keep doing what they do, now that modest success is barely sustainable and causes a lot of bands to hang up their passions and get regular jobs because the can't support themselves. This in turn has made it much harder for a band to get signed and has also made it so that record companies don't want to take much of a risk and would rather sign bands that sound like what's already successful. It's why you get a bunch of bands that come out that sound the same or why you'll listen to the radio and you'll hear a bunch of generic sounding stuff. A band that might be doing something new or cutting edge, you probably won't know anything about it.

7. How did you go about picking your "look"? Your band has a very definite style and feel. Where did it come from?

The look wasn't really something I picked. Much like the music, it was a natural evolution of my own personality. I've always owned a lot of black clothes. It just looks so classic. But I was always turned off by the dirty rocker look. I never wanted to come across like that. I like to be clean. I don't like to look like I just rolled out of bed. To me, the stage and the audience demands a certain amount of respect. When you attend church or some important event, you dress up. I feel the same way about what I'm doing. I want to make sure that I approach my passion with respect. So I'm going to put on some nice shoes and wear nice clothes and I hope it comes across that I really care about what I'm doing. I'm not going out there thinking I'm God's gift to the world. I'm going out there saying that I'm lucky and blessed to be where I am, doing what I'm doing and I'm going to show my respect for it.

8. What genre would you consider DOMMIN?

I would simply call it Rock music. I don't know if it will help me or hurt me, but I'm tired of hearing bands where the 2nd album sounds like the first and all 10 songs sound the same. I'm not interested in repeating myself. And I think you'll find on the debut album due out in February, there are songs very different from each other. And I think the next album, should I get the opportunity to release another one, will be different than this one. Some of it is more electronic, some of it is even completely orchestral. I gather from genres of synthpop, metal, alternative, jazz, and classical. Some of it will be dark and people want to label it goth. Some of it will be heavily synth and the label will be alternative or electronic. I don't want to be put in a box where my career is based on me repeating myself over and over again with 20 versions of the same song. But, I'm comfortable simply saying, it's Rock music.

9. What do you think the "jobs" of a fan should be?

Fans don't have a job. The best thing that someone in my position could hope for is that people care enough about the music, maybe even as much as I do, that they're excited enough to tell their friends about it, invite them to live shows, wear the t-shirts so that I can keep doing what I'm doing. Without fan support it goes away. Don't get me wrong, I'll always make music if for no one else but myself. But in order for me to be able to put it out there like I'm doing now, we need to find people who love what we're doing enough that they are motivated to help grow the band and spread the music. Word of mouth is the most powerful marketing tool.